Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani gets 43 percent to Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's 42
percent in the 2008 presidential race in Ohio, and leads other Democrats by wider margins,
according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

While Giuliani leads the Republican pack with 23 percent, followed by McCain at
17 percent, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson has moved up to 15 percent, a 7-point
jump since April 26. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has 11 percent and former
House Speaker Newt Gingrich has 6 percent.

Clinton leads among Democrats with 38 percent, followed by Obama at 19 percent,
2004 vice presidential candidate John Edwards at 11 percent and Gore at 10 percent.

"Ohio is the nation's premier swing state and Sen. Obama does best here of the
Democrats, yet he needs to do something about Sen. Clinton's lead in the primary in order
to have a chance to strut his stuff next November," said Peter Brown, assistant director of
the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

"Former Senator and Law & Order actor Fred Thompson is making the Republican
race interesting as he appears to be eating into Sen. McCain's strength."

"The 23 percent of the vote Giuliani is getting in a GOP primary remains the same
as the April 26 Quinnipiac University poll, but it is sharply lower than March 7 when he
was getting 35 percent of the Ohio vote," Brown added.

"Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has been the first to buy national
television ads, finally breaks into double digits among Ohio Republicans."

How Ohio voters feel about the various candidates could be a harbinger of good things for
Obama and Thompson. The Illinois Senator gets a 42 - 22 percent favorability rating, with 34
percent who do not know enough about him to form an opinion. Thompson gets a 25 - 8 percent
favorability, including 46 - 4 percent among Republicans, but 65 percent of all voters still don't
know enough about him to form an opinion. Favorability ratings for other candidates are:

54 - 26 percent favorable for Giuliani;

A split 46 - 45 percent favorable for Clinton;

45 - 28 percent favorable for McCain;

46 - 43 percent favorable for Gore;

44 - 29 percent favorable for Edwards;

67 percent don't know enough about Romney to form an opinion.
Bush Approval

Ohio voters disapprove 61 - 35 percent of the job President George W. Bush is
doing.

From May 8 - 13, Quinnipiac University surveyed 939 Ohio voters, with a margin
of error of +/- 3.2 percentage points. The survey includes 334 Republicans with a margin
of error of +/- 5.4 percentage points, and 353 Democrats with a margin of error of +/- 5.2
percentage points.
The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts
public opinion surveys in Florida, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut,
Ohio and the nation as a public service and for research.

For more data -- http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x271.xml, or call (203) 582-5201.

1. (If registered Democrat) If the 2008 Democratic primary for President
were being held today, and the candidates were, Joe Biden, Wesley Clark,
Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Al Gore, Mike Gravel,
Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson for whom would you vote?

TREND: (If registered Democrat) If the 2008 Democratic primary for President were
being held today, and the candidates were Joe Biden, Wesley Clark, Hillary
Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Al Gore, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich,
Barack Obama and Bill Richardson, for whom would you vote? na = not asked